If you guys and gals have a mac and you have HD at home, you are in LUCK! I was reading on the internet and there was a fantastic DIY on how to record HD content straight from your cable box! No more TiVo necessary when you do this and you can play it back on your Mac or stream to your XBOX360 for FREE! If you are interested read on!
The first thing you need to get is the APPLE SDK from their website. Select FirewireSDK23. This is free, but you have to give some information and register. Download the latest version of the SDK and install it. Once you install it you can find the software in the Developer/ directory. I am currently on the Comcast system and it works with the standard box that includes Firewire 400 ports. Connect the cable to your Mac and VOILA!
The software is slick in that you can schedule recordings and you can select the channel that you want to record. There may be some encryption on some of the channels, but the network stations are unencrypted. I could not record TNTHD, but not a big deal. I can record all of the network channels and ESPNHD. Sweet. You typically want to set aside 100 MB/minute. This is hardly any space for HD content especially if it costs nothing to record the feed!
Once you have recorded the file, it becomes a file that is formatted as a .m2t file. Luckily, MPlayer and VLC support these files fully and can play them back. There you have it, this is a free way to record your HDTV programs! I hope you enjoy this and it looks great streamed to the television!
